Gantt charts on a Mac?
April 27, 2015 10:13 PM Subscribe
All I need is to make, then frequently modify, one long Gantt chart — on a Mac, with a local app rather than a web service.
I'll never need to share it with another user, and I only need to manually modify the single flat chart itself. (Don't need any nesting or dependencies, reporting, task alarms, 'person responsible for,' etc.)
Three needs:
- I must be able to modify the bars graphically (by dragging their edges, not typing in date ranges);
- The bars must have easily-editable background colors and text labels, with the labels always visible (not requiring a mouseover to see), like this; and
- I must be able to view the chart at various horizontal resolutions (e.g. a few weeks onscreen / a few months onscreen / a year or more onscreen).
The options I found online are either costly subscriptions to sites with way more functions than I need, or free for one user but with unbelievably stupid, data-destroying handling of sync conflicts (ahem, tomsplanner.com – I'm taking some long deep breaths about that site right now :/).
So I want an offline solution, for Mac OS. Paid is fine. (If this app also had an iOS version – even if the iOS app could only view, not modify – that would be fantastic icing on the cake, but my main need is a Mac OS app.)
Please tell me there's something I haven't found yet....
I'll never need to share it with another user, and I only need to manually modify the single flat chart itself. (Don't need any nesting or dependencies, reporting, task alarms, 'person responsible for,' etc.)
Three needs:
- I must be able to modify the bars graphically (by dragging their edges, not typing in date ranges);
- The bars must have easily-editable background colors and text labels, with the labels always visible (not requiring a mouseover to see), like this; and
- I must be able to view the chart at various horizontal resolutions (e.g. a few weeks onscreen / a few months onscreen / a year or more onscreen).
The options I found online are either costly subscriptions to sites with way more functions than I need, or free for one user but with unbelievably stupid, data-destroying handling of sync conflicts (ahem, tomsplanner.com – I'm taking some long deep breaths about that site right now :/).
So I want an offline solution, for Mac OS. Paid is fine. (If this app also had an iOS version – even if the iOS app could only view, not modify – that would be fantastic icing on the cake, but my main need is a Mac OS app.)
Please tell me there's something I haven't found yet....
Also consider Merlin, which I haven't used.
posted by zachlipton at 10:19 PM on April 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by zachlipton at 10:19 PM on April 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thank you — looking at OmniPlan now. (For others' reference: OmniPlan's $200 cost would be doable, especially since for the subscription sites I'd spend way more than that over time.)
posted by kalapierson at 10:29 PM on April 27, 2015
posted by kalapierson at 10:29 PM on April 27, 2015
Came to mention OmniPlan. I'm a heavy OmniFocus user and I can't say enough good things about OmniGroup's support, if that helps swing the vote.
posted by Brainy at 10:45 PM on April 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Brainy at 10:45 PM on April 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
I find Merlin to be good for the same use case scenario. I have heard good things about OmniPlan but I haven't used it.
posted by Grinder at 11:26 PM on April 27, 2015
posted by Grinder at 11:26 PM on April 27, 2015
Response by poster: OmniPlan users, would you please take a look at my "Three needs" list and help me know: am I really missing something, or does it only fulfill the first one?
posted by kalapierson at 12:10 AM on April 28, 2015
posted by kalapierson at 12:10 AM on April 28, 2015
I haven't used OmniPlan in some time, though I'm generally a fan of OmniGroup software. Unfortunately, their download links are broken at the moment for me, so I can't see for myself, but it looks like it fulfills all three based on the manual:
1. You already saw: "Changing the duration of a task by dragging
Grab the little traction pad at the right end of a task bar. Drag the end of the bar left or right to change the task's duration. You can hold Shift while dragging to snap
to round values."
2. I'm a little less sure about this one, but the manual says: "Format Menu: Show Colors — Show the Mac OS X Colors panel, where you can select a color, then drag a color swatch onto text, task bars, or entries in the Project Styles inspector."
3. "You can zoom the Gantt chart (and the resource timeline) in and out using the magnifying glass menu in the upper-right corner of the chart, or by putting the mouse pointer in the chart's header area and dragging left or right, as if you were resizing a column."
posted by zachlipton at 3:28 AM on April 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
1. You already saw: "Changing the duration of a task by dragging
Grab the little traction pad at the right end of a task bar. Drag the end of the bar left or right to change the task's duration. You can hold Shift while dragging to snap
to round values."
2. I'm a little less sure about this one, but the manual says: "Format Menu: Show Colors — Show the Mac OS X Colors panel, where you can select a color, then drag a color swatch onto text, task bars, or entries in the Project Styles inspector."
3. "You can zoom the Gantt chart (and the resource timeline) in and out using the magnifying glass menu in the upper-right corner of the chart, or by putting the mouse pointer in the chart's header area and dragging left or right, as if you were resizing a column."
posted by zachlipton at 3:28 AM on April 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: (I am using the trial - big thanks to zachlipton for the zoom and color info, both of which work great - now just the text labels missing, which is a biggie but possibly not a dealbreaker)
posted by kalapierson at 9:47 AM on April 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by kalapierson at 9:47 AM on April 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: To update, I've accepted that tomsplanner is the best for my needs and I'm just going to keep using it reeeeeeeeally carefully (absolutely no attempts at offline use on a second device, which is frustrating but still worth it for the site's beauty, ease & configurability)
posted by kalapierson at 10:12 PM on June 9, 2015
posted by kalapierson at 10:12 PM on June 9, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by zachlipton at 10:18 PM on April 27, 2015